So I’m going to tell you up front that I have been anticipating this project since its announcement in July. I thought it was both exciting and cool that Dark Horse Comics was teaming up with MADHOUSE Studios in Japan (the animation company behind dozens of great works like Ninja Scroll, Wicked City, Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust, just to name a few) to bring us a western style manga. I became even more excited when I saw the artist/writer behind the project was Torajiro Kishi, who was the creator of the hysterical series Colorful (which was also turned into an anime and released here stateside on DVD).

BUT would it all live up to the hype I was building up in my mind?

MADHOUSE is super cool but they are the bees-knees more for animation, not who I think of first for manga. Devil was said to be an action/horror comic, yet it was written/drawn by Torajiro Kishi, whose manga works I knew of were all comedies or erotic sex-based stories. Plus it’s a western style manga, so it looks and moves like manga, but is drawn for English readers with all the pages in color from the get-go. Could this really work out?

The good news for those on the fence about this title is: YES, it did work out.

Devil spins a tale of a world plagued by a disease that turns humans into vampire-like monsters, who are a lot tougher than your everyday human, which people have nicknamed as “Devil-Possessed”. To combat this, a special investigations unit called “Devil” is on the job to take care of these matters. It is here we meet Investigator Takimoto, a rough around the edges lone wolf, who carries an awesome gun and would rather kill than attempt to save these “devils”.

The artwork by Kishi is a great fusion of east meets west. It really does have the look and flow of manga but reads like any American comic book. The action scenes are violent yet stunning. Although not as gruesome as MPD Psycho or Battle Royale, we get enough head explosions and body piercing to keep us happy.

The writing thus far was fine. Issue #1 pretty much gives us the set up of the series; a lot of details about the world are told to us right away between dialogue and narration boxes. This first chapter is not weak in any way/shape/form, but nothing groundbreaking either, it’s just entertaining (and that is surely alright by me). The title shows us Kishi can definitely take on the horror/action genre, and echoes memories of MADHOUSE films like Demon City Shinjuku, Wicked City and Perfect Blue (keeping otakus happy).

Final thoughts: Devil will prove to be a swank little miniseries for horror/action fans of either American or Japanese comics. High-fives, Dark Horse. High-fives.